MOVIES

The latest movie and film news from Hollywood and beyond

If someone tried to put together a Reviving Dead People film festival, there wouldn’t be enough films in the genre to actually call it a festival. There’s “Frankenstein” (the feat was accomplished via electricity), “Pet Sematary” (overnight burial in sacred Indian ground) and “Flatliners” (everyone was simply resuscitated, without much explanation).

The best way to approach this film is to immediately dispense with its problems. The first half is stronger and more entertaining than what comes after it. Due to the surprising, and surprising amount of, twists it takes, a second viewing won’t hold...

Before he ever thought of being a movie director, Neill Blomkamp was pretty handy with a pencil and a pad of paper. Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, he was, as he puts it, “unbelievably visually-oriented. I would draw relentlessly. Then I...

Sunday is the night of all nights for the film world: The Academy Awards. Nominations for the year’s most outstanding films, actors, directors and creative teams were unveiled Jan. 15, and the outcome is still all but certain in the biggest...

A time machine is the only means to get back the 93 minutes wasted on “Hot Tub Time Machine 2.” The sequel to director Steve Pink’s (“Accepted”) 2010 laugh-a-minute, time-travel raunch fest finds itself stuck in a warp of recycled gags centered...

Pop quiz, part one: When was the last time you saw a strong performance by Kevin Costner? Last year’s “Black or White?” “Man of Steel” from the year before? The woefully underrated “The Upside of Anger” almost a decade ago? Or do you stubbornly go...

Hollywood is always aiming a big chunk of its movies at teen audiences. So it’s no surprise that lots of films make sure to take on the subject of teens and social issues. Top of my head: “Blackboard Jungle,” “Mean Girls,” “Kids,” “Juno,” “The...

We hear a lot about Islamic fundamentalists terrorizing people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, but seldom does the media acknowledge the atrocities taking place in sub-Saharan Africa, where the al-Qaeda-backed Ansar Dine is cruelly enforcing sharia...

Will Smith can play comedy (“Men in Black”) and he can play drama (“Seven Pounds”). He’s done the bigger-than-life hero (“Ali”) and the slick wiseguy (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”). In his newest film “Focus,” he delivers a serio-comic role as a...